Tweeters,

Put this day in the bank, please! Wasn't it great? (That's a rhetorical
question.) Anyway, I was downstairs minding my business this morning when my
wife asked from upstairs, "What were those birds in the wetland last year
that made the funny noise?" "WILSON'S SNIPE," I said. "Yeah. Well, I think
they're out there now." "Pretty hard to hear inside the house," says I. (I
couldn't hear anything except California Quail "Chicago-ing" out back.)
"I've got the window open." (Oh.) So I walked out the patio doors and heard
at least three snipe winnowing down in the wetland, one of which was close
by. A nice Spring sound.



While I was outside, I thought I heard a hummingbird whiz by, so I filled up
the hummingbird feeders, and put them out. Within two minutes, a RUFOUS
HUMMINGBIRD was feeding at the sugar syrup out back. "A hummer out back," I
yelled up to my wife. "Yeah," she said, "two of them." (Figures.) Anyway, we
have at least two females and one male RUHU here - I saw three feeding late
this afternoon. (Take that!)



We'd only had TREE SWALLOWS in residence, with VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS passing
through, but that ended today with at least 6 VGSW checking out the eaves of
the house. I just wish they'd find the two boxes under the eaves of the
garden shed.



Since it's April, I decided to put up the Purple Martin gourds and gourd
"tower" in its spot next to the wetland. (We've had martins check out the
gourds in Fall, but no other time.) I put two gourds on the tower arm ends,
and raised the arms to the top of the pole. As I was doing this, four TREE
SWALLOWS were flying around me - or rather - the pole. I realized I had to
reorient one of the gourds, so I dropped the arms back down - you'd have
thought I took the TRSW's firstborn! I got buzzed repeatedly, even after I
raised the arms back to the top. I finally got back on my tractor to head
out, only to have one swallow take one last swipe. Sheesh - I was only
trying to help. And it looks as if the martins are out of luck again unless
they take over the unoccupied gourd. (I've found that two TRSW families
won't occupy side-by-side gourds, even if they're 6 feet apart.) Right now,
it looks as if at least nine nestboxes have Tree Swallows defending them.



Yesterday we checked out some of our plants, and found that the KILLDEER was
on eggs very close to one of the Tree Swallow boxes, the one with the
miniature daffodils planted beneath it at the SW corner of the property near
the road. Last year, the April nest in a different spot was predated, but
the May nest, very close to the site of the current nest, was successful.
Here's hoping for a repeat success story.



Lots of frogs chorusing out in the wetlands, along with MALLARDS, PINTAIL,
GREEN-WINGED TEAL, and AMERICAN WIGEON. The pond across the street has
pretty much disappeared, and with it all the ducks that were there last
week. Many appear to have come over to our side of the street.



Lots of singing birds today: RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS,
DARK-EYED JUNCOS, CALIFORNIA QUAIL, SONG SPARROWS, PINE SISKINS, SPOTTED
TOWHEES, PURPLE FINCHES, HOUSE FINCHES, and MARSH WRENS to name a few. And
it looks as if a pair of RED-TAILED HAWKS definitely have taken over the
nest at the SE corner of the property, with the female doing home
improvements this afternoon.



This coming Tuesday, Krystal Kyer of Tahoma Audubon is meeting with (I hope)
a bunch of landowners in Roy/McKenna to discuss the "BioBlitz" that's coming
up in mid-May. I guess folks are going to try to figure out what wildlife
and plants are in our fair area - should be interesting to see what pops up.



That's it for now..



May all your birds be identified,



Denis DeSilvis

Roy, WA

Mailto: avnacrs4birds at q.com